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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





013 704 192 3 




SPEECH 



OF 



GOV. OLIVER P. MORTON 



AT THE 



UNION STATE CONVENTION 

HELD AT 

FEBRUARY Q3, 1864. 



In introducing the written matter of his speech, after thanking the 
Convention for the honor done him, and declaring his determination 
to make it the pledge of his best efforts in the future, he said that in 
times like the present, and in view of the great events whose issue de- 
pends on wise deliberation and energetic action, men are to be con- 
sidered as nothing and measures every thing. If any man, having 
been tried, is found incapable, inefficient or unfaithful, he should be set 
aside. If we fail in this great struggle, then all is lost. If the ad- 
ministration of National and State Governments is placed in the hands 
of men who favor compromise and concession to those in rebellion, 
which would carry with it the ultimate recognition of the independ- 
ence of the Confederacy, then all for which so much blood had been 
shed, and so much treasure expended, the unity of the nation and her 
institutions, would be lost forever. 



It seemed an appropriate occasion to pass in review the political 
affairs of the State during the past two years, and as he desired not 
to be misapprehended or misunderstood he had taken such time as he 
could gain from official duties and frequent illness to put in writing 
what he was about to say. He then read as follows : 

COPPERHEAD ACTION IN THE LEGISLATURE. 

The beginning of the late session was signalized in the House by 
an act as absurd and insulting as it was revolutionary. 

The Constitution imposes the obligation upon the Governor of com- 
municating with the Legislature by messages from time to time, and 
it imposes a like obligation upon the Legislature of receiving and 
and considering such messages. In discharge of this obligation, the 
Governor sent his semi-annual message to the Senate and House. The 
Senate received the message and ordered it to be printed, but the 
House refused to receive it, returned it to the Governor, and passed 
a resolution receiving and adopting the message of the Governor of 
New York. [Laughter.] 

From such a beginning it.was not hard to predict the end. The 
House had begun its Legislative course by a wanton insult to the 
Executive, by a flagrant violation of the Constitution, which it had, 
but a few hours before, sworn to support. The revolutionary policy 
thus inaugurated was pursued with increased violence and open dis- 
regard of Constitutional obligations. Its time was chiefly consumed 
by the introduction of disloyal resolutions, the utterance of factious 
and treasonable sentiments, intended to excite the people against the 
Government, and destroy its power to suppress the rebellion. 

The necessary and legitimate subjects of legislation were disregard- 
ed or kept back. Aside from an appropriation for their own per diem 
and mileage, which was passed on the first day of the session, every 
other appropriation was absolutely suppressed until Friday, the last 
day but one of the session, when it was known that no quorum was 
present in the House. — Among the appropriations which should have 
been made at the beginning of the session were: _, 

First — A sufficient sum for the relief of soldiers' families. 

Second — A sum sufficient to relieve the necessities and provide for 
the sick and wounded soldiers in the field. 

Third — A sum sufficient to pay the military claims which had been 
allowed by the Auditing Committee, and about which there was no 
dispute, some of them having been standing for many months. 

Fourth — A sum sufficient to pay special surgeons for services and 
expenses, rendered by order of the Governor, in the field. 

Fifth — A sum sufficient to sustain and continue the operations of 
the State Arsenal; it having been shown that that institution had 
been profitable to the State, and of great service to the State and 
Government. 

Sixth — A sum sufiicient to pay the officers and men of the Indiana 
Legion, for their services rendered in protecting the border. 



I am informed by Mr. Branham, who was a member of the com- 
mittee of Ways and Means, that he repeatedly urged on the commit- 
tee immediate action in these important matters, and also that bills 
appropriating money necessary for the support and operation of the 
State Government should be promptly brought forward, but every 
effort was unavailing; the legitimate business of legislation was sub- 
ordinated to the great purpose of the session — to the grand scheme of 
the party for seizing the military power of the State, and withdraw- 
ing the State from the support of the General Government in sup- 
pressing the rebellion. 

Shortly after the October election in 1862, it was given out by va- 
rious Democratic politicians and papers that the Legion law would 
be repealed, and a new law passed depriving the Governor of all con- 
trol over State arms, and stripping him of all military power what- 
ever. 

On the 17th day of February a military bill was introduced by 
Bayless W, Hanna, Chairman of the Military Committee in the 
House, in pursuance of the conspiracy formed months before. It 
completely overturned the Constitutional authority of the State, es- 
tablished a military provisional government, and placed all military 
power of the State in the hands of the four Democratic State Offi- 
cers. It will not be improper to make a brief summary of the lead- 
ing features of this remarkable measure. 

First. It provided that all the arms should be placed in the 
custody of the Auditor, Treasurer, Secretary and Attorney Gen- 
eral of the State, to be kept, issued or disposed of only by them. 

Second. It deprived the Governor of all power to call out the 
Militia for any purpose whatever. 

Third. It provided that the new officers to be created under this 
bill should be commissioned by certificates issued by the Auditor, 
Treasurer, Secretary and Attorney General of the State,and dispensed 
with commissions issued by the Governor, as is required by the Con- 
stitution of the State. 

Fourth. It provided that the above named State officers should 
have power to appoint all Major and Brigadier Generals, and con- 
ferred upon the officers thus appointed the power to select a numer- 
ous and expensive staff. 

Fifth. It provided that the four State officers, upon the requisi- 
tion of the Brigadier Generals, should issue the arms to such persons 
as might be agreed upon without requiring bonds to be given for 
their preservation and return, and could thus be placed in the hands 
of irresponsible parties for revolutionary and treasonable purposes. 

Sixth. It provided for the repeal of the present Legion law, the 
dissolution of all brigades, regiments and companies formed under 
that law, the surrender of their arms into the hands of the agents to 
be appointed by the four State officers, and rendered null and void 
all outstanding commissions in the State. 

In short, this bill transferred to the four State officers the military 
power which was vested in the Governor by the Constitution, and 



gave to them new and dangerous powers hitherto unknown to Con- 
stitutions or laws in regularly organized Governments. 

They were to become four Grand Commanders, a Military Direc- 
tory, a quadruple Executive. 

The bill was defective in one particular, for it failed to provide for 
the contingency of two of these Executive Heads differing from the 
other two. It should have made provision in such case for referring 
the disputed matter to a Justice of the Peace or the decision of a Cor- 
oner's jury. [Laughter.] 

The Legislative history of this bill could not be better given than 
in language employed by the Union members of the Legislature in 
their Address to the People of the State : 

ACTION OF THE MINORITY. 

" The Military bill had come from the midnight caucus to the House; 
had been printed and forced to its engrossment without the change 
of a word or letter ; all amendments and substitutes had been voted 
down ; all references to committees had been refused, although every 
other bill of a general character that had gone to a second reading 
had been referred to some committee ; the previous question had 
been sustained, the gag applied, and all debate cut off, and the bill 
engrossed. Nothing was left for us but to sit by and see this infa- 
mous measure passed through, the revolution consummated and civil 
war begun, or to quietly retire and leave the House without a quo- 
rum ; there was no other peaceful and constitutional remedy. If it 
had been left to the Courts to annul it, before the question could have 
been determined the law would have done its work. 

The military power once in the hands of the conspirators, it would 
be a matter of no importance what the courts might decide ; and if 
the question took the course of others before the Supreme Court it 
might be months or years before the decision was made. The path of 
duty was the path of safety, and we had no doubt nor hesitation aa 
to the course we should pursue. 

" We were willing and anxious, and repeatedly proposed to the 
majority to return and pass the appropriation bills, with all other le- 
gitimate and lawful legislation ; but they replied to us contemptuously 
that " they intended to pass every one of their ultra measures before 
they took up the appropriation bills.' " 

The Military Bill violated absolutely no less than seven plain and 
vital provisions of the Constitution, and subverted entirely the scheme 
of Government invented by the framers of that instrument. Its 
passage would have been an act of revolution inevitably attended by 
civil war and a collision with the Government of the United States. 

There were doubtless a number of Democratic members in the 
Senate who did not sympathize with the conspiracy, and who depre- 
cated the desperate measures in progress. But the Union members 
of both Houses believed that if it passed the House it would pass 
the Senate. The action of the majority was predetermined in secret 



caucus from time to time, and the party lash laid unsparingly upon 
the backs of all who dared to talk of doubts or hesitated at the fear- 
ful schemes of the reckless leaders who were dictating the action of 
the party. 

The Legislature was in session fifty out of the fifty-nine legisla- 
tive days, with a quorum present in each House, during which time, 
as before stated, no appropriation bills were brought forward except 
for their own per diem and mileage, and the Union members with- 
drew from the House only after every other means had been ex- 
hausted to prevent the passage of the fatal measure. 

Thus ended this Legislature, having made the worst record, per- 
haps, ever made by any Legislative Assembly in the United States. 
[Loud cheers.] 

THE BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 

Immediately upon the adjournment of the Legislature it was an- 
nounced by the State officers that there were no appropriations for 
carrying on the benevolent institutions and the penitentaries, and 
that no money could be drawn from the Treasury for that purpose. 
It was the , confident expectation that I would be compelled to call 
back the Legislature or suspend the operations of all these institu- 
tions — but I determined to do neither. To have called back the 
Legislature would have been an act of madness for which I should 
have been condemned by every true man in the State. To have sus- 
pended the Benevolent Institutions and scattered the unfortunate in- 
mates abroad, would have been an act of inhumanity, disgraceful to 
the State and to all parties concerned. 

In 1858 Governor Willard, in consequence of the alleged want of 
appropriations for their support, suspended the Benevolent Institu- 
tions, and sent away the deaf and dumb, the blind and the insane. — 
This suspension took place in the month of May but on the 20th day 
of the November following, after the State elections had taken place, 
they were reopened, the inmates sent for — such as could be found — 
and the money taken from the Treasury for their support. In the 
meantime no legislation had been had and no appropriations made. 
If it was lawful to take money from the Treasury to carry on these 
Institutions after the October election, it was lawful to do it before 
— and their operations should never have been suspended, and the 
fact that after the election had passed and the time had gone by for 
making party capital out of their suspension, they were reopened and 
supported from the Treasury in the ordinary way — proves that the 
original act of suspension was not a necessity, but a partisan meas- 
ure of the most reprehensible character. The Benevolent Institu- 
tions of the State are provided for in the Constitution of the State, 
and are regularly organized by statute — the people of the State have 
been taxed for their support, and have paid their money into the 
Treasury, where it now is. Whether these constitutional and legal 
provisions, and the collection of the money, constitute an authority 



for its application, I will not undertake to determine. I can onlj 
say that in 1858 they were held to be a sufficient warrant — after the 
October election. Whatever might be the true aspect of the legal 
question, I determined to procure, if possible, sufficient money to 
carry on all the institutions of the State, and keep the machinery of 
the government in motion. This would devolve upon me great and 
novel responsibilities, but they were as nothing compared with those I 
should have assumed by suspension and failure. Money was pro- 
cured from various sources — from the proceeds of the arsenal, from 
various counties — private persons — from one bank and one railroad 
company, until, I believe, sufficient funds have been secured to carry 
forward the State Governmeni; until the 1st of February, 1865. 1 
am gratified to state that when the increased cost of all articles of 
food, clothing and materials of every kind consumed in the benevo- 
lent institutions shall have been considered, it will be found that they 
have been carried on at a diminished cost of ten or fifteen per cent., 
as contrasted with the expenditures of former years. For this I am 
indebted to the vigilance and economy of the superintendents of the 
institutions, the members of the Board of Trustee?, and especially to 
Andrew Wallace, President of the Board, 

INTEREST ON THE STATE DEBT. 

I now approach the history of a transaction the most remarkable 
in the financial records of the State, and one which will be read here- 
after with mingled indignation and astonishment. 

Shortly after the adjournment of the Legislature it was bruited 
about that Mr. Ristine, the State Auditor, would decide that there 
was no existing appropriation by which the money could be drawn 
from the Treasury to pay the interest on the State debt, and shortly 
afterwards the opinion of Mr. Herd, the Attorney-General, to that 
effect, purporting to be addressed to Mr. Bistine, was published in 
the papers. This grand discovery was a suprise to everybody, and 
the purpose of it could not be mistaken — Avhich was to drive me to 
call an extra session of the Legislature. The proposition itself was 
an insult to public morals and good faith, and in utter disregard of 
the usage and practice of the State for many years. In 1841, the 
State having contracted a large debt for the purpose of internal im- 
provement, and the system having proved disastrous, failed to pay 
the interest upon her bonds, the credit of the State was at once pros- 
trated in the money markets of the world, her hitherto good name 
everywhere affected, and her fair prospects for future prosperity and 
greatness blighted. Her reputation for bad faith and bankruptcy 
for many years caused the current of immigration to sweep around 
her and over her to States in the north and west, and for a series of 
years her growth in population and wealth was retarded. In 1846 
the people of the State declared imperatively that measures must be 
adopted to restore her credit and do justice to ber creditors. Accor- 
ding a compromise was finally agreed upon and adopted by which her 



creditors surrendered and canceled one-half of their debt, amount- 
ing to over ten millions of dollars, in consideration of which th« 
State transferred to them the Wabash & Erie Canal and issued new 
stocks to them for the other half, upon which she solemnly pledged 
herself to pay the interest semi-annually on the first days of January 
and July in each year, until the principal of the debt should be paid. 
The arrangement was highly advantageous to the State and did much 
for the immediate restoration of her credit. For the creditors it was 
a bad one, for the Wabash & Erie Canal in a few years became worth- 
less, and has since been practically abandoned, and they had surren- 
dered and lost one-half of their entire claim. Legislation had in 
1846 and 1847 in completion of the arrangement was regarded as a 
perfect and continuing appropriation from the Treasury of an amount 
of money sufficient to pay the interest from time to time, according 
to the terms of the new agreement. It was so regarded and acted 
upon throughout the remainder of the Administration of Governor 
Whitcomb, throughout the two administrations of Governor Wright, 
and the late administration of Governor Willard. In 1857, the Leg- 
islature having failed to make the usual appropriations for the sup- 
port of the State Government, the Hon. Joseph E. McDonald, then 
Attorney General of the State, gave it as his official opinion that 
while there were no appropriations authorizing the payment of money 
from the Treasury for the support of benevolent institutions, there 
was a legal and continuing appropriation for the payment of the 
interest on the State debt, and in accordance with this opinion Gov. 
Willard, in 1858, borrowed from the Sinking Fund enough money to 
pay the July interest, the Treasury at that time being empty. The 
new Constitution adopted in 1850 expressly guaranteed the pay- 
ment of the principal and interest of this debt, and was regarded as 
of itself constituting an unalterable appropriation until the principal 
of the debt should be finally paid. It is true that in 1859 and 1861 
the Legislature made special appropriations for the payment of this 
interest, but so it did also for the payment of the salaries of all the 
State officers, the payment of the State Printer, and for several other 
purposes, all of which are now paid out of the State Treasury, with- 
out specific appropriations. These appropriations were without sig- 
nificance, because no question had been or was then raised as to the 
sufficiency of the original appropriations to pay the interest on the 
State debt. 

Justice to Mr. Brett, the Treasurer of State, requires it to be 
said that he did not enter readily into this scheme of repudiation, and 
frequently expressed his entire disapprobation of it. To secure the 
co-operation of Mr. Brett, and to stem the current of public indig- 
nation which was setting in strongly against the parties to this scheme, 
it was determined in May to procure an opinion from the Supreme 
Court, by which Brett could be coerced, and under which Ristine and 
his co-adjutors could be sheltered. Accordingly, in May, Hon. W. H. 
Talbot^, the President of the Sinking Fund, and who, it was under- 
stood, was one of Ristine' s advisers in this scheme of repudiation, 



commenced a suit against Ristine in the Circuit Court of Marion 
county, asking for a mandamus against Ristine to compel him to issue 
a -warrant upon the Treasurer for an amount of money sufficient to 
pay the approaching July interest. The Sinking Fund was the holder 
of a large amount of our State stocks, upon which it was the duty 
of Talbott to collect the interest, and the bringing of this suit was 
apparently in the performance of his duty. It was obvious, however, 
that if such a suit was brought it would be a mere sham,, a concoct- 
ed thing to consummate the original scheme of repudiation. The 
history of the case in its progress through the Circuit and Supreme 
Courts clearly established the truth of this opinion. The history of 
the case in the Circuit Court is set forth in the card of Mr. Smock, 
the Deputy Clerk of that Court, which I will read : 

Indianapolis, May 16, 1863. 

" In the case entitled The State of Indiana on the relation of the 
Commissioners of the Sinking Fund vs. Joseph Ristine, Auditor of 
State, the papers were first presented to me by Mr. Hord, the Attor- 
ney General, on Monday the 11th day of May, with a request that 
the entry prepared should at once be entered of record, and a trans- 
cript made out and certified for the Supreme Court. This was my 
first knowledge of the case. Mr. Hord stated that the case had been 
passed upon by the Court. The papers consisted of a complaint, 
demurrer to complaint, answer and demurrer to answer, and of an 
entry in the hand- writing of the Attorney General, reciting the over- 
ruling of the demurrer to the complaint, the sustaining of the demurrer 
to the answer, and the judgment of the Court that a writ of mandate 
issue in conformity with the prayer of the complaint. The Attorney 
General wanted me to quit my other work and make the entry in the 
order-book immediately, which I refused to do, and told him that the 
transcript could not be made then, unless it was made from the ori- 
ginal papers, and before the entry was made in the order-book. Mr. 
Hord replied that he would take it in that way. I supposed it was 
all right, and that everything had been ordered by the Court. 

" The papers were then taken to the Clerk's office, and from them 
a transcript was made out and certified before any step in the case 
had been entered upon the order-book, and before the minutes had 
been read er signed. As soon as the transcript could be completed 
in this mode, it was handed to the Attorney General, who was wait- 
ing at the Clerk's office for it ; he said as he received it, that he hoped 
to get a decision in the Supreme Court in a few days, and that the 
costs would be paid. 

" After this the entry was recorded. When Judge Finch read the 
entry he remarked that he had not been informed of what it contained 
— that it had not been read to him, and if he had known its charac- 
ter it should not have been recorded. He struck the entry from the 
order-book with his own hand, and before the minutes for the day had 
been signed. " W. C. SMOCK, Deputy Clerk." 



9 

This certainly beats any judicial "time" on record. The summary 
proceedings of the Police Courts of New York, or of the Old Bailey 
in London, cannot approach it. Here the pleadings on both sides 
had been prepared out of Court in advance, including the opinion and 
judgment of the Court, a record of the case procured and filed in the 
Supreme Court before the minutes in the Court below had been read 
or signed ; without the character of the case having been brought to 
the knowledge of the Judge of the Circuit Court, who, upon being 
informed of what had been done, struck out the entry upon the order- 
book with his own hand, and, as I learn from another source, sent a 
communication to the Clerk of the Supreme Court, stating that the 
record filed with him had been improperly obtained, and that he had 
not decided any such case. He then took up and examined the ori- 
ginal complaint and decided it invalid, upon the ground that the pro- 
ceedings were wholly premature, the time not having arrived when 
action could be had upon the subject. From this last decision Tal- 
bott appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court received 
and retained both records, and then the case presented the very novel 
aspect of two appeals pending in the Supreme Court at the same 
time, and only case in the Court below. In a few days opinions were 
delivered in the Supreme Court in both cases denying the existence 
of any appropriations by which the interest could be paid upon the 
State debt. And here I leave the law suit. 

In future times the legal antiquarian will pause amidst his researches 
to examine this case as the greatest curiosity in the annals of Amer- 
ican jurisprudence. 

The dead lock was now placed upon the Treasury. It was full of 
money paid into it by the people to defray the interest upon the pub- 
lic debt, support the Benevolent Institutions and Penitentiaries, and 
liquidate all the expenses incident to the operations of the State Gov- 
ernment. 

The situation was full of embarrassment and responsibility to me, 
and the afi'airs of the State were in a most critical and delicate posi- 
tion. To have called an Extra Session of the Legislature would have 
realized the hope of the repudiators. A careful examination of the 
designs and temper of the majorty failed to present the slightest pros- 
pect that a different policy would be adopted from that which pre- 
vailed at the Regular Session, while the danger and excitement which 
then prevailed would be renewed with increased violence. Every 
Union member, so far as I could learn, was utterly opposed to an 
Extra Session, and I have yet to find the first Union man in this State 
who did not protest against such a measure as being fraught with 
danger and powerless for good. Determined, however, to leave no 
effort unmade to preserve the credit of the State, in the month of 
June I proceeded to New York and opened negotiations with Messrs. 
Winslow, Lanier & Co. That able and distinguished house promptly 
offered to pay the interest if the proper evidence could be procured 
as to who were the stockholders entitled to receive it. 

On the 24th day of June they addressed a letter to John C. Walker, 



10 

Agent of the State, elected by the late Legislature, resident in New 
York, informing him that they were prepared to pay the interest if 
he would furnish them, from the books of the Agency in his office, a 
list of the stockholders, or allow such list to be taken, and offering 
to pay the expense of having it^copied. This list was made necessa- 
ry by the existence of spurious Stocks issued by Stover, the former 
Agent, which could be detected from the genuine only by the books 
of the Agency. To this letter Walker replied in a long, malignant 
and frivolous communication, in which he assailed the Governor, and 
ended with refusing the list, or allowing it to be taken. 

On the 26th of June they addressed him a second letter ,in which they 
urged him to pay the interest on the State Stocks in the usual way, by 
issuing checks to the stockholders for the amounts due to them, upon 
their house, which checks they would pay upon presentation, and also 
expressly exonerating him from all personal liability or responsibility 
for the money thus advanced. 

The interest had been paid in this manner through the house of 
Messrs. Winslow, Lanier & Co., for the preceding ten years, the 
Agent depositing his money Avith the house and checking upon it in 
favor of the stockholder. 

This proposition was also abruptly rejected by Walker. I have no 
language to express the contempt and aversion for the conduct of 
Walker which must be universally entertained. No commentary can 
add to the intense disgust which it must inspire in every honest and 
intelligent mind. The office of Agent of State was created by the Act 
of Settlement with our creditors in 1846, to which I have before re- 
ferred. Through it the interest was to paid semi-annually in New 
York, and the business of the Agent was to watch over and preserve 
the credit of the State, and for which he receives a salary of $2,500 
a year, and $2,500 more for office and incidental expenses. 

He was not, however, entitled to the sole credit of defeating the 
arrangement made with Messrs. Winslow, Lanier & Co. Mr. Ristine, 
the State Auditor, was present with him in New York aiding and ad- 
vising, and is entitled to share the glory and responsibility of that 
transaction. 

Walker having thus defeated the arrangements with Messrs. Wins- 
low, Lanier & Co., the interest on our stocks went to protest for non- 
payment on the 1st of July. Their value was immediately affected 
in the market, and the fair fame of the State again became the sub- 
ject of doubt and discussion. Steps were taken to inform the stock- 
holders, as far as possible, of the true state of the case to prevent 
panic and sacrifice, I pledging myself to make further efforts to effect 
an arrangement for the payment of the interest. 

Determined not to be defeated if possible in the effort to preserve 
the credit of the State, I attempted to secure from other sources a 
correct list of the stockholders, and in this attempt suceeded in No- 
vember. In the meantime the necessity for action had become more 
manifest and imperative than before. While the American stockholders 
in gefieral had a correct knowledge of the state of affairs, and but 



11 

few stocks were changing hands or being offered in the market, the 
case was quite different with our stockholders in Europe, In Europe 
American politics are always badly understood, and the principal fact 
which they clearly comprehended was that they did not receive their 
interest. They associated this failure with that of 1841, and began 
to say that there was some strange fatality attending Indiana securi- 
ties, and declared their intention of sending them back to America 
and getting clear of them at once and forever. Such a measure would 
have given the State a bad name abroad, seriously affecting emigra- 
tion to her borders, and would have been followed by great deprecia- 
tion and loss of credit throughout the United States. 

Having presented the list to Messrs. Winslow, Lanier & Co., they 
promptly renewed their offer, and gave public notice that they would 
pay the back interest which fell due in July, and afterwards gave 
further notice that they .would pay the interest which accrued on the 
1st day of January, 1864, and up to this time, as I am advised, have 
paid out $280,000. The noble and generous conduct of this house 
should and will be appreciated by the people of Indiana, and Mr. 
Lanier, in his clear comprehension and able management of the affair, 
has displayed not only financial ability but a broad statesmanship 
that should put to the blush the petty and contemptible management 
of State officials who for partisan purposes were willing to disgrace 
the State before the world. 

There is another transaction connected with the refusal to pay the 
interest on, the public debt which must if possible increase the abhor- 
rence entertained for it in the public mind. On the — day of Au- 
gust, Messrs. Ristine and Brett, the Auditor and Treasurer, advanced 
to Walker, from the State Treasury, the sum of fifty thousand dol- 
lars, to be invested by him in our war loan bonds or the State stocks, 
of which I have been speaking. Messrs. Ristine and Brett have also 
taken from the Treasury the sum of $50,000, with which they have 
purchased Indiana 5 per cent, stocks, making in all the sum of $100,- 
000 taken from the Treasury for that purpose. We are here pre- 
sented with the remarkable spectacle of State officers deciding that 
there is no law by which they can pay the interest on the State stocks, 
but finding law to take money from the Treasury for the purchase of 
the stocks themselves at a price depreciated by the failure to pay the 
interest. In what light must such a transaction be viewed among 
private persons in the business world. A refuses to pay his paper at 
maturity and then puts the money in the hands of B to buy it up at 
a discount. Ristine and Co. decide that it is unlawful to pay the in ■ 
terest on our stocks, but that it is lawful to take money from the Treas- 
ury to buy up the stocks themselves reduced in price by the failure to 
pay the interest. Surely the State might have been spared this last 
disgrace. 

STATE PRINTING. 

I should fail to present the conduct of the State officers in its proper 
light if I did not allude to their action in regard to the State Printer. 



12 

It is difficult to see upon -what legal or moral ground they could re- 
fuse to advance money for the support of the Benevolent Institutions 
and Penitentiaries, and at the same time pay large sums of money to 
the State Printer ; yet this was the case. When the Senate Journal 
of the last day of the session, Monday, was read, it was found to con- 
tain a resolution, which the minutes showed to have been adopted, 
appropriating twelve thousand dollars for the payment of the State 
Printer, ^ 

The Union members present declared that no such resolution had 
been read in their hearing, and that no quorum was present to pass 
that or any other. Be that as it may, it was but the resolution of 
one House. It was not a law, and had no force or validity whatever. 
Under the flimsy pretext of this resolution, warrants were issued to 
the State Printer for twelve thousand dollars, on which he drew the 
money. When this sum was exhausted, there was a little delay in 
the payments, but having become bolder, and the necessities of the 
editor of the Sentinel becoming greater, they dispensed with all pre- 
text or forms of law, and paid him large sums of money from time to 
time, in all amounting to about twenty thousand dollars. When asked 
to pay for the support of the Benevolent Institutions they plead the 
absence of appropriations, and the terrors of the embezzlement bill. 
But when asked to pay the editor of a partizan newspaper, they 
laughed at the embezzlement bill as a good joke, and treated the plea 
of no appropriations as a clever thing in its way, but too trifling to 
interfere with the support of the newspaper organ of the party. I 
am informed that the Attorney General gave an opinion to the eff"ect 
that it was legal to pay the State Printer. I should have been sur- 
prised if he had not. 

RIGHT OF THE GOVERNMENT TOWARD REBELS. 

Passing from matters of local or State interest, the Governor next 
took up our national condition, and said : 

It is a truth taught alike by reason and history, that the more ter- 
rible and destructive wars are made the sooner they are ended. Lin- 
gering and protracted wars are the most terrible calamities that can 
befall Nations. Not only do they consume the blood and substance 
of a Nation, but they are attended with a demoralization and dissolu- 
tion of the frame-work of society more dreadful than the loss of even 
blood and treasure. Humanity, mercy and sound policy then dictate 
that war, if it must exist, shall be made terrible and destructive, that 
it may soon be ended, and demand that every legitimate means for 
that purpose shall be promptly employed. 

The power of the enemy may be overcome and destroyed in two 
ways : First, By destroying or capturing his army in the field. 
Second, By withdrawing or cutting off" his resources so that he shall 
not be able to furnish, clothe, feed, or maintain an army, and where 
this can be done it is quite as efficient as the former, and far less 
costly and bloody to both parties. The resources to which I refer 



13 

consist chiefly in arms and munitions of vfa.Y, transportation, food and 
clothing for armies. 

The first great step adopted by the Government to cut off the re- 
sources of the rebels was the blockade of their ports, and the exclusion 
of all foreign trade and commerce. This effort has been only partially 
successful, and there is good reason to believe that if its success had 
been complete, the rebellion would have failed before this time for 
want of material and supplies for carrying it on. 

The question of the power of the Government to blockade the ports 
of the rebel States was early presented in the courts, and has been 
solemnly affirmed in the Supreme Court of the United States, every 
Judge concurring. No higher exhibition of the war power in cases 
of rebellion can be presented than blockading rebel ports, and treating 
them as the ports of a foreign enemy. The Constitution is silent 
upon the subject, but the Court held that the right is a necessary part 
of the war-making power to suppress rebellion. It was done by order 
of the President, and without authority or concuj-rent act of Congress. 

An attempt has Been made from the beginning to destroy rebel 
means of transportation and communication, by cutting up and de- 
stroying their railroads, bridges, steamboats and shipping of every 
kind. The right to do this has not been seriously questioned, and is 
a part of the war power vested in the President as Commander-in- 
Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, 

But how shall the ability of the rebels to feed and clothe their 
armies, and clothe and subsist their families at home, be destroyed ? 
That is a great question demanding our consideration. To answer it 
we must carefully consider in what that ability consists. We find that 
this ability consists chiefly in the labor of about four millions of negro 
slaves, who are employed in producing food and clothing for the fam- 
ilies at home and the armies in the field, providing munitions of war, 
repairing railroads, erecting fortifications, managing baggage trains, 
and performing nearly all the labor in the field, the workshop and the 
camp. We shall find that if this slave labor could be withdrawn their 
armies in the field could not be fed and clothed, and that the men 
composing those armies would be compelled to return home and labor 
for their own and the subsistence of their families. 

Their armies thus collapsed and dissolved, the rebellion would be 
ended, and with it the war and the effusion of blood. 

But should there be those who deny that the withdrawal from the 
rebels of slave labor would be decisive upon the rebellion, yet even 
they are bound to confess that it would tend powerfully in that direc- 
tion, and greatly contribute to destroy the vital resources of the rebels. 
If, then, the withdrawal of slave labor from the rebels would be so 
potent in its effects and disastrous to the rebellion, upon what ground 
can the existence of the power to do it be denied ? As before stated, 
the right of the Government to blockade the ports of the rebellious 
States has been solemnly declared by the Supreme Court of the United 
States. The right to destroy or appropriate to the use of our own 
Government their railroads, bridges, shipping, growing crops, and 



14 

■whatever property may be useful to us, or the loss of -which -would 
be injurious to them, is scarcely denied by the most bitter enemy of 
the Government. How then can the right be denied to destroy or 
remove the labor -which has produced all these things and may restore 
them if they are taken away ? If the right exists to destroy the re- 
sources of the enemy at all, why may it not be done in this way ? It 
tends to the same result for which the blockade was established, and 
differs only in form, not in principle. And I now ask if the truth of 
this proposition can for a moment be denied : that if it is the opinion 
of the President as the Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the 
United States, that the institution of slavery is an element of power 
in this rebellion, subsisting in whole or in part their armies in the 
field and their families at home, and that its destruction would greatly 
weaken, if not ruin, their cause, he has the same right to pull it down 
that he has to pull down rebel fortifications, blockade their ports, cut 
up their railroads, destroy their crops, or do any other act which 
would impair or destroy the strength of the rebellion ? 

Some politicians seem to ignore the fact that there is a vast differ- 
ence between war and peace, and insist that war shall be carried on 
just as we carry on peace. They do not comprehend that war, from 
its very nature, involves the exercise of powers, which, in times of 
peace, are unnecessary, and are prohibited. What sort of a war would 
that be which is prosecuted on peace principles ? War and peace are 
antagonistic states, and each has its conditions, privileges, and immu- 
nities, which are antagonistic to those of the other ; and white our 
Constitution is formed and provides mainly for peace, yet it recognizes 
and provides for the possibilities of war. 

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 

Assuming that the President has the right to withdraw from the 
rebels slave labor, even destroy the institution of slavery, if, in his 
opinion, he can weaken or destroy the rebellion, I come next to the 
consideration of the question as to the manner in which he may exer- 
cise this power. Some there are who say that, as this is a military 
poAver, it must be exercised only by armies in the field, who shall 
march into the slave territory and liberate the slaves from their mas- 
ters, and that the President has no right to exercise it by a proclama- 
tion, which is merely a civil proceeding. To this it may be answered 
that making war is not confined to the use of armies and navies, and 
that if the fidelity of the army of an enemy or the allegiance of the 
inhabitants of a hostile State can be affected by proclamations or ap- 
peals, it has been considered by every nation in every age of the 
world, proper to resort to them, and has been the practice of mankind. 
If the right exists, it may be exercised in any way which shall be the 
most efficient or least costly. The reduction of the walls of Jericho, 
by the blowing of rams' horns, was certainly a novel and extraordinary 
method of assault, without precedent in the history of war, yet I have 
never learned that any casuist has denounced it as illegitimate or un- 



IS 

godly on that account; and if it were proper that Jericho should be 
reduced and conquered in that way, sparing the effusion of blood, 
should it be objected that the President of the United States has at- 
tempted, by proclaiming freedom to the slaves of rebels, to weaken 
the power of this rebellion and thus aid in restoring peace and stop- 
ping the effusion of the best blood in our land ? It is, however, highly 
probable that if there had been Copperheads in the days of Joshua, 
they would have taken issue with him on the rams' horn question, and 
insisted that it was a gross violation of the Ten Commandments. 
[Uproarious laughter and cheers.] 

In time of peace there is no power vested in the President or in 
Congress to interfere with slavery in the States where it exists. That 
power is drawn from its resting place in the Constitution and con- 
ferred upon the President by the rebellious conduct of the slave own- 
ers, and their own hands have forged the bolt which was launched for 
their destruction. 

It is indeed a lofty and gratifying consideration that the exercise 
of this great power by the President is not only sanctioned by the 
laws of war and upheld by the Constitution, but is in especial harmony 
with the principles of Eternal Justice and the revealed word of God. 
Slavery having voluntarily rejected the protection of the Federal Con- 
stitution and advanced from behind the bulwarks where it had been 
entrenched in safety so many years, stood naked before its natural 
enemies — Liberty, Morals, Religion and the public safety, and has 
fallen pierced bv a dart from each. 

THf: PEACE MEN AND SLAVERY, 

The Governor next alluded to the Peace men and their conduct in 
regard to the rebellion, and said : 

These men, with a few mild phrases, profess their devotion to the 
Union and their condemnation of the rebels and the rebellion, and 
rush on with an indecent haste to the bitter denunciation of those 
whom they denominate Abolitionists. They are men of one idea, 
and that idea is the preservation of the institution of slavery. They 
are the guardians of slavery left on duty in the Free States, while 
the rebellion is seeking to work out the destruction of the Govern- 
ment. 

In their minds the whole duty of the Government is summed up 
in the protection of slavery at all hazards and under all circumstances. 
Unlike other institutions and other property, they are unwilling that 
slavery shall run the chances of war. However other interests may 
suffer, commerce be prostrated, horses and cattle, lands and goods be 
confiscated, to pay the penalties of treason, slavery must be insured 
against all violence, from all loss by the contingencies of war. 

To preserve slavery harmless is to observe the Constitution in all 
its parts. To injure it in any respect is to infract the Constitution 
in every member. At a time when eleven slave States have 300,000 
men in the field to destroy the Constitution and the Government 



16 

founded upon it, these Northern patriots are devoting all their energies 
and expending all their breath to protect the interests of slavery in 
these States. Against the armed rebellion they have little or nothing 
to say. Against the murder of our citizens upon the field of battle, 
whose blood is spilled that the Union may be preserved, they scarcely 
protest; in favor of suppressing the rebellion and procuring indemni- 
ties against the future recurrence of a like disaster, they utter not a 
word; but their conversations, their speeches, their papers, are an 
ever ascending petition that whatever calamity may befall our country, 
whatever sacrifice she may be called upon to make in blood and trea- 
sure, slavery shall be preserved harmless to ajfflict all coming gen- 
erations. 

The Government of the United States has in a few cases arrested 
and imprisoned persons, who, by speeches and writings, were striving 
to destroy the Government, and giving aid and comfort to the re- 
bellion. 

These arrests have been made a pretext for a combined assault 
upon the Government, while the rebellion, with its multiplied cruel- 
ties and horrors, without parallel in the history of civilized nations, 
is utterly ignored. Many thousands of Union men are languishing 
in Southern dungeons, treated not as State prisoners, but as felons, 
for no other crime than expressing their adherence to the old Consti- 
tution and the old flag. Are there no tears to shed over the horrible 
sufferings and persecutions of these faithful men? Does humanity 
exhaust its sympathies upon the few cases where Northern men have 
" suff"ered brief confinement for the expression of disloyal sentiments 
in the encouragement of the rebellion? Are the Union men of the 
rebel States who have stood by the Government in the hour of trial, 
and whose loyalty has been tested by the dungeon, the torture and 
the gibbet, entitled to no consideration ? The cruelties of the Ameri- 
can savages and of Chinese warfare fade and whiten when com- 
pared with the attrocities which have been practiced by the rebels 
throughout this war. Union men have been murdered upon their own 
thresholds ; they have been cast into loathsome dungeons, where they 
have perished from disease or starvation ; they have been hung like 
dogs upon trees and signposts, and their bones have been fabricated 
into jewelry and worn as horrible souvenirs and keepsakes, as the 
savage would string upon his girdle the scalps of his victims. 

A member of the Kentucky Legislature, in a speech in that body, 
at a former session, declared that after the retreat of Kirby Smith 
from Kentucky, he had seen one grave in which were buried twelve 
Union men, with the halters still around their necks. 

Where among the politicians who talk thus is one who has ever 
raised his finger in suppression of the rebellion ? Look about through 
the State of Indiana and find me one if you can. When the people 
have rushed together to consider of their country, they have stood 
afar off" with boding looks, words of ill omen upon their tongue, and 
councils of discouragement for those who were about to enter the 
ranks of the army. When the country talked only of war, vigorous, 



17 

successful war to the putting down of the rebellion, they prated only 
of peace, of compromise with the rebels, and exonerated and en- 
couraged the traitors by the declaration that the Black Republicans 
biought on the war, upon whom they lavished all their indignation. 
The army has been raised aid organized in spite of them. The 
young and the middle aged, heedk-ss of their councils and their 
calumnies, have enrolled themselves among the defenders of their 
country, and put behitid them the evil spirits of the time. It is true 
they have hung heavy on the cnuse ; they have blackened it at every 
step ; they have assailed all who were urging it onward ; they have 
placed obstructions upon the track, nevertheless it has moved on, and 
it will until it has overwhelmed the enemies of our country. While 
patriots thought only of saving their country, these men have thought 
only of saving their party. VVhile our soldiers have laid upon their 
arms to watch and seize all advantages against their foe, these men have 
watched only for advantages in the next State, county or township 
election. 

THE DUTY OF THE TIMES. 

The great duty of the hour, displacing and putting aside all other 
considerations, is the suppression of the rebellion. Until this is done 
all political discussions, all effoi ts of reconstruction, so called, are 
vain. When the armies of the rebellion are crushed or scattered, 
and resistance to the Government has ceased, we may then take coun- 
sel together as to the best method of adjusting our difficulties and 
starting into motion again the wheels of government in the rebel 
States. It would be folly, the most criminal, the most preposterous 
in the world's history, were we to pause amidst our efforts to discuss 
the terms of future settlement, while rebel armies are still in the field 
menacing the life of the nation. Let us, then, with united, hearty 
and undivided attention address ourselves to the great task of des- 
troying the military power of the rebellion. The ranks of the army 
must be recruited, the Government sustained aud upheld, our soldiers 
in the field looked after with tenderest care, their families at home 
sheltered and provided for out of our abundance, and our people, 
rising to the level of the great situation, must display that liberality, 
devotion and spirit of sacrifice, that can be inspired only by the con- 
viction, that victorious we shall save country, liberty and honor, and 
that defeated, all these are forever lost. The hope of the Republic 
is in her armies. The great question must now be settled by the 
arbitrament of the sword. They who take the sword shall perish by 
the sword, and the rebellion having wickedly and madly appealed to 
arms in the beginning, by arms it must be utterly crushed and blotted 
from the nation. The man who would counsel the nation to stay the 
march of our victorious armies, and give the rebellion pause to re- 
cover strength and vigor, under the vain pretext of compromising 
2 



18 

tvitli our erring brethren, must be a traitor or a fool. Compromises- 
implies concession on both sides, and what could we concede to them 
short of the independence of their Confederacy and the destruction of 
the Union, and what else would they ask us to concede ? In the very be- 
ginning spurning all negotiations, rejecting all moral and religious 
considerations, the rebellion sprang to arms, and slapping the nation 
in the face with the mailed hand, challenged it to combat or ignomi- 
nious surrender. 

OUR STATE TROOPS. 

While we rejoice in the bravery displayed by all the armies of the 
United States, it is a subject of profound congratulation that the In- 
diana troops have behaved with uniform and distinguished gallantry 
in every action in which they have been engaged. They form a part 
of every army in the field, and have been among the foremost in deeds 
of daring, while their blood has hallowed every soil. 

Our troops, hitherto engaged in the peaceful pursuits of trade and 
agriculture, have manifested that lofty courage and high-toned chivalry 
of which others have talked so much and possessed so liitle, and which 
belongs only to the intelligent patriot, who understands well the 
sacred cause in which he draws his sword. 

Indiana has already made a large investment of her best blood in 
the cause of the Union, and will never consent to its dismemberment 
or to a dishonorable peace. The bones of her sons mingle with the 
soil from Virginia and Missouri to Louisiana, and she will not confess 
that the sacrifice has been made in vain, or acknowledge that it was 
in an unholy cause. General Hackleman, Colonels Brown, Bass, Link, 
Hathaway, Wheeler, Von Trebra, King, Carroll, Lieutenant Colonels 
Hendricks Bachman, Keith, Gerber, Kirkpatrick, Crosswait, Topping, 
Wolf, Kempton, Glass, Swain, Shanklin, Sheets, Leslie, Stough j 
Majors Tanner Gavitt, May, Arn, Abbett, Conklin, Hill, Lemon, 
Finley, Mason and Parrott, and many others of lower rank, but with 
valor not less distinguished, have yielded up their lives upon the field 
that our country might be preserved. Thousands of our private 
soldiers, v/ith equal courage and patriotism, have fallen, the victims 
of this unnatural rebellion. 

They were fighting from deep convictions of duty and the love 
they bore their country. Their unlettered graves mark a hundred 
battle-fields, and our country can never discharge to their memory 
and their posterity the debt of gratitude it owes. Our gratitude 
should be testified by the tender care we take of their families and 
dependent ones whom they left behind, by the education of their 
childien, and by the honor we pay to their memory. 

Nor should we forget those who have perished by disease in camp 
or hospital. They were denied the soldier's privilege of dying in 
battle, but their sacrifice way none the less. To die in the field, amid 



19 ' . 

the clash of contending nrmiea and the roar of battle, lighting in a 
holy cause, is glorious : but when death comes slowly on, in the lone- 
liness and desolation of the hospital, with no mother or sister to 
soothe the passing spirit and minister as love only can minister, with 
none but the rough hand of a comrade to press the calmmy brow and 
perform the last offices to the dying — it is terrible. 



CORRKSPOJSTDKlSrCH: 

RELATING TO THE PAYMENT OF THE INTEREST ON 

THE FUNDED DEBT OF THE STATE OF 

INDIANA, DUE IN JULY, 1863. 



WJNSLOW, LANIER & CO. TO JOPIN C. WALKER, AGT., &c. 

BANKiNa Office of Winslow, Lanier, & Co., ) 
52 Wall St., New York, Jnne 24, 1863. j 

John C. Walker, Esq., / 

Agent of the State of Indiana, New ^ork : 

Dear Sir : — It being now quite certain that the last July interest 
on the Funded Debt of the State of Indiana will not be paid, for 
reasons publicly known. We have, at the earnest solicitation of Gov. 
Morton and other citizens of that State, agreed to pay the same to 
the holders of the certificates of indebtedness to protect the credit of 
the State. To do this safely to ourselves, we must take an assign- 
ment from each creditor of the amount of interest due, with power 
of attorney to collect the same when you are placed in funds to pay 
the same; to enable us to do this satisfactorily, we must have a cer- 
tified copy of your pay roll for July, or list giving the names of the 
holders, as also the amount of dividend due to each, &c. 

We therefore respectfully request that you furnish us with the 
same at as early a day, prior to the day of payment, as your conve- 
nience will allow. We expect to pay you all the expenses that may 
be incurred in and about furnishing the same. 

We shall be pleased to hear from you as soon as convenient. 
Yours, truly, 
(Signed,) WINSLOW, LANIER & CO. 

[The proposition contained in the foregoing letter was declined by 
Mr. Walker, on the 25th of June, in a letter full of scurrility and 
misstatement.] 



20 



WINSLOW, LANIEK & CO. TO JOHN C. WALKER. 

Banking Office of Wtnslow, Lanier & Co., 1 
52 Wall St., New York, June 26th, 1868. j 

John C. Walker, Esq., 

Agent of the State of Indiana : 

Dear Sir: — Your letter of yestenlay, in reply to nnrs of the 24th 
inst., is received. 

We have nothing to say in reply, rave to express our regret that 
the State should fail in paying the interest on her Funded Debt; as 
to where the fault lies in the premises, is not for us to say. 

It has occurred to us, however, that we could shape our request in 
a manner that may meet your approlation — it is this : 

That you shall, in the capacity of the Agent of the State, go on 
and pay each creditor entitled thereto on your dividend books, taking 
the receipt of each in the usual form ; you to draw your official check 
on our house to the order of each party entitled thereto, expressing 
on the face of each check that it is given for the July dividend on 
stock thus held or represented, giving the amount of such stock. 

These checks we will pay, and hold the same as our vouchers, until 
we are reimbursed. 

In this way the payments can be made in the usual manner as the 
Agent has always heretofore paid by drawing his check on our House, 
or some other house or bank in this City. 

As it is necessary for us to know whether we are to advance, or 
not, so large a sum of money by Wednesday next, we will thank you 
for an early reply, 

Yours truly, 
(Signed,) WINSLOW, LANIER & CO. 



JOHN C. WALKER TO WINSLOW, LANIER & CO. 

Office Indiana State Agency, \ 
No. 36 Wall St., New York, June 26, 1863. / 

Messrs. Winslow, Lanier & Co. : 

Gentlemen : — Your letter of this morning is received. I regret to 
say that a sense of duty compells me to decline acceeding to your 
propositions. 

Respectfully yours, 
(Signed,) JOHN C. WALKER, 

Agent of State. 



} 



21 



WINSLOW, LANIEK & CO. TO JOHN C. WALKER, AG'T, &c. 

Banking Office of Winslow, Lanier & Co., 
52 Wall St., New York, June 27th, 1863. 

John C. Walker, Esq., 

Agent of State of Indiana : 

Dear Fir: — We yesterday received your reply to our second pro- 
position. We should, perhaps, have said therein that we did not pro- 
pose to hold you personally responsible in case you should agree to 
our request. We now say so. 

Yours truly, 
(Signed,) WINSLOW, LANIER & CO. 



RESOLUTIONS OF THE SOLDIERS. 

The following Memorial and Resolutions were adopted by the Offi- 
cers and Soldiers of the Indiana Regiments in the Army of the Cum- 
berland, and sent to the Indiana Legislature, by a special messenger, 
during their session of 1863 : 

To the General Assembly of the State of Indiana : 

The undersigned officers and soldiers of the Indiana Volunteer Regiments sub- 
mitting with patriotic self-denial to the policy which denied us a voice in the late 
election, and approving the wisdom of that feature of our Government which se- 
cures the civil freedom from the influence of the military power, nevertheless de- 
sire to participate in the preliminary councils which are to shape the popular ideas 
of the State, and consequently to control the actions of its Representatives in the 
General Assembly. We speak, as soldiers, because our lives are staked upon the 
issue of the present struggle ; as citizens, laecause, at no distant day, those of us 
who survive are to share with you the responsibilities of citizenship, and to expe- 
rience, in common with the people at home, the results of your present delibera- 
tions. 

Whatever prejudice may exist against any interference of the military in the 
affairs of State, certainly even the most vigilant guardian of the public interest 
could not expect the army to await with indifterence the result of deliberations 
which involve not only the common interests of the people, but also the lives and 
fortunes of those who have taken up arms to defend the integrity of the Union in 
a contest with our common foe in the field. 

Defeat strips the citizen of his fortune and political enjoyment ; the soldier of 
both these, and his honor, and, it may be, his life. 

It requires no argument to convince an intelligent mind that a war sustained 
by a united people, and waged with that energy and determination which proceeds 
only from undivided councils, presents a less fearful array of casualties, with a bet- 
ter hope of success, than a sluggish contest waged by a party and merely sustained 
in the wrangling of factions at home. In other words, it requires more lives to 
sustain a Government hampered and restricted by the jealousy of political partv, 
than to sui^tain one supported by the voice of a united people; as well mi<^ht vou 



22 

expert the fotlered victim to struggle suecessfuly with his iintrammeled opposer, 
as to hope for a nation to subdue its enemies when its energies are cramped by the 
unwise restrictions of a doubtful majority. To live in spite of disease, every func- 
tion must be characterized by the utmost vigor, and all unite against the enemy 
who seeks in the destruction of one the certain ruin of all. 

Believing then, that, as soldiers, we have a deeper interest in the present strug- 
gle than you can possibly have as citizens — and, further, that the influence of mil- 
itary life has not unfitted us for the high duties of citizenship, we present ourselves 
before your Honorable Body as petitioners, without apology. We come boldly, 
asking only what we have a right to expect, either as citizens or soldiers, battling 
for the integrity of the Union. 

We ask simply that you will give this war a cheerful and hearty support; that 
j'ou will strengthen and energize every department of government that this un- 
happy struggle may be pressed to a successful termination ; that you will pour out 
the treasure of the State as your soldiers have poured out their blood on the field 
of battle, to aid in the holy cause of restoring the Union of our fathers ; that you 
will abstain from heated political discussions and violent party wranglings, until 
the authority of our Government is once more established; that you will resist the 
htfernal spirit which would waste victory in humiliating compromise, or render 
teiTiporarj^ reverses a pretext for the -alienation of an unotlending community; 
that vou will sacrifice everything, except liberty and political equality, to national 
integTity ; that you will sustain all the officers of the State and General Govern- 
ment in their efforts to subdue this unholy rebellion, and, especially, that you will 
sustain our worty Governor, whose every energy, during the past two years, has 
been so entirely devoted to the cause of the Government and its supporters. 

We appeal to you, especially, to sustain him. for the reason that it is chiefly to 
his unceasing care and labor, exhibited in arming and supporting the troops of 
Indiana, that we have to attribute our present proud position among the loyal 
States of the Union — and for the further reason, that he has demonstrated by his 
acts that he is an earnest and zealous patriot, devoting his time with untiring en- 
ergy to the glorious cause for which we are battling. We appeal to you, as our 
Kepresentatives, to encourage him in the good work of ministering to the wants 
of our unfortunate comrades who have been stricken down in the strife of the bat- 
tle-field and by the cruelty of relentless disease; that you will confer on him all 
the necessary authority, and place in his hands the requisite means to carry out 
the good work which he hi3S begun, remembering that one human life is worth all 
the treasure of the proudest State. 

In conclusion, we propose the following resolutions to be adopted by the Legis- 
lature of Indiana, and to constitute the basis of all those acts bearing upon the in- ' 
terests involved in the foregoing address. 

1. Resolved, That we are unconditionally and determinedly in favor of the 
Union. 

2. Resolved, That in order to the preservation of the Union we are in favor of 
a vigorous prosecution of the war, 

3. Resolved, That we will sustain our State and Federal authorities with money 
and supplies, in all their efforts to sustain the Union and prosecute the war. 

4. Resolved, That we will discountenance every faction and influence tending 
to create animosities at home, or to afford consolation and hope to our enemies in 
arms, and that we will co-operate only with those who will stand by the Union, 
and by those who are fighting the battles of the Union. 

5. Resolved, That we tender to His Excellency, Governor O. P. Morton, the 
thanks of his grateful friends in the army, for his extraordinary efforts in their 
behalf, and assure him that neither time nor the corrupting influence of party 
spirit, shall ever estrange the soldier from the soldier's friend. 



TO THE DEMOCRACY OF INDIANA, 



The following stirring appeal has been addressed to the Democracy 
of Indiana by their companions-in-arms in Arkansas : 

Having a deep interest in the future glory and welfare of our 
country, and believing that we occupy a position in which we can see 
the eflfects of the political struggles at home upon the hopes and fears 
of the rebels, we deem it to be our duty to speak to you openly and 
plainly in regard to the same. 

The rebels of the South are leaning on the Northern Democracy 
for support, and it is unquestionably true that unjustifiable opposition 
to the Administration is " giving aid and comfort to the enemy." While 
it is the duty of patriots to oppose the usurpation of power, it is alike 
their duty to avoid captious criticisms, that might create the very 
evils which they attempt to avoid. 

The name of Democrat^ associated with all that is bright and glori- 
ous in the history of the past, is being sullied and disgraced by dem- 
agogues, who are appealing to the lowest prejudices and passions of 
our people. We have nothing to expect from the South, and nothing 
to hope, without their conquest. They are now using their money 
freely, to subsidize the press and politicians of the North, and with 
what eftect, the tone of some of our journals, and the speeches of 
some of our leaders, too plainly and painfully testify. 

We see, with deep solicitude and regret, that there is an undercur- 
rent in Indiana tending toward a coalition of the Northwest with the 
South against the Eastern States. Be not deceived. Pause, for the 
love you bear to your country, and reflect. This movement is only a 
rebel scheme in disguise, that would involve you, alike with them- 
selves, in the crime of rebellion, and bring to your own hearthstones 
the desolation of a French Revolution. Separation on either side, 
with peace in the future, is impossible, and we are compelled by self- 
interest, by every principle of honor, and every impulse of manhood, 
to briijg this unholy contest to a successsful termination. 

What! admit that we are whipped? That twenty three millions of 
Northern men are unequal to nine millions of the South? Shame on 



24 

the State that would entertain so disgraceful a proposition ! Shame 
upon the Democrat who would submit to it, and raise his cowardly 
voice and claim that he was an Indianian ! He, and such dastards, 
with their offspring, are fit "mud sills" upon which should be built 
the lordly structure of their Soutnern aristocracy! And with whom 
would this unholy alliance be formed? With men who have forgotten 
their fathers, their oaths, their country and their God; with guerrillas, 
cotton- burners; with those who force every male inhabitant of the 
South capable of bearing arms into the field, though starving wives 
and babes are left behind! Men who persecute and hang, or drive 
from their lines, every man, woman and child who will not fall down 
and worship the Southern god. And yet free-born men of our State 
will sympathize with such tyrants, and dare even to dream of coali- 
lion! Indiana's proud and loyal legions number at least seventy 
thousand effective men in the field, and, as with one great heart, we 
know they would repudiate all unholy combinations tending to the 
dismemberment of our Government 

In this dark hour of our country's trial, there is but one road to 
success and peace, and that is to he as firmly united for our Govern- 
ment as the rebels are against it. Small differences of opinion amount 
to nothing in this grand struggle for a nation's existence. Do not 
place even one straw in the way, and remember that every word you 
speak to encourage the South, nerves the arm and strikes the blow 
which is aimed at the heart's blood of our brothers and kindred. 

Alvin p. Hovey, Brigadier General. 
William T. Spicely, Col. 34th Ind. 
William E. McLean, Col. 43d Ind. 
George F. McGinnis, Col. 11th Ind. 
James R. Slack, Col. 47th Ind. 

Helena, Arkansas, February 2, 1863. 

nlS^'^Y ^^ CONGRESS 

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